


Hidden in plain sight

by Rhonda3Green



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Canon Divergent, F/M, Past Prostitution, Pregnancy, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo babies, Smuggler Ben, grandpa han, mara jade mentions, mara x luke, some dub con mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 01:32:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13870239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhonda3Green/pseuds/Rhonda3Green
Summary: Rey usually tried not to dwell too much on her life before she had left Jakku. Before she had her precious son. Before she was surrounded by people who genuinely cared about her. How did she meet Ben? She did not simply meet him. He had saved her life.-Ben remembered it so clearly as if it had just happened the day before. His distant, yet still caring, aunt had bequeathed only one item to Ben in her will. It was a book of love poems, its pages yellowed with age. Luke knew that Ben would often get distracted writing fanciful tales of love when he was supposed to be copying jedi texts. Luke was then not at all surprised by Mara leaving him such a frivolous thing. He was so unfazed by the book that he had not bothered to flip through the pages before handing it over to his nephew.-Han discovers what happened to the Millennium Falcon along with the bitter truths he had been running from for all these years. Rey and Ben had found each other when they had nobody else. Now Ben will do anything to keep his wife and children safe.





	Hidden in plain sight

Han Solo stepped into the hangar that was attached to the large, brightly painted house. The house blended in with the other bright houses on the street, but a shining layer of gloss over the lime green paint showed that owner had put a lot of care into the appearance of the home. When Han had finally gotten a lead on the location of the Millennium Falcon after years without a hint to its whereabouts, he had not imagined coming back to his home planet of Corellia, nor had he imagined that he would find his ship hidden on the wealthy side of Coronet City. All he knew was that a well-to-do merchant and his family lived there and had somehow gained possession of his long-lost ship.

Han shook his head in confusion. The Falcon was there alright. A young woman was currently tinkering with a wrench underneath it. One of her hands was tightening a bolt and another hand rested against the swell of her heavily pregnant belly. A little boy stood near her holding a tool box. He looked to be around four or five. When Han stepped closer, his heart stopped in his chest. He understood why the Millennium Falcon was here. The little dark-haired boy noticed him and his eyes widened in fright. He looked exactly like Ben had at that age.

"Hey there, kiddo," said Han.

The boy put down the toolbox and ran away nervously towards the safety of the house. The young woman stepped out from under ship.

"Sorry, my son is easily frightened by strangers," she said. "How can I help you?"

"Is this your ship?" asked Han.

"It belongs to my husband," she said. "But I fly it just as often as he does, I would say."

"What's your name?" asked Han.

"I'm Rey," she held out her hand in greeting.

He shook her hand.

"I'm Han," he said.

"Wait," said Rey. "Han Solo?"

"Yeah," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Now I see why you are here," said Rey. "You're going to try to take the Millennium Falcon."

"Well," said Han. "It is my ship."

"No," said Rey. "My husband has the deed to the ship. He is the rightful owner."

"I am pretty sure I have the original deed," said Han.

Rey crossed her arms. "You know that Lando Calrissian gambled with a fake deed the night you won the Falcon, right?"

"What?" said Han.

"Lando gave Ben the real deed as a wedding present," said Rey. "Which was only fair since Ben was the one who actually tracked down and salvaged the ship all on his own."

"I looked everywhere for this ship," said Han in disbelief. "But I guess I need to go have a chat with Lando."

Rey shook her head at him.

"Too bad you didn't look everywhere for your son," said Rey. "Not that you would have had to look much further from your home planet where your son uses your old ship to work with your old business partners. We've been living here for years now!"

Han grimaced. "I really wanted to find him. It's just that time got away from me. I don't know."

"Well, you better think of a better explanation than that," said Rey fiercely. "Because out of his entire family, you were the one who broke his heart the most."

Han felt his chest sink. "Is Ben home?"

"Yeah," said Rey. "He's in the house."

Han studied his son's wife for a moment. She had long brown hair tied loosely out of the way. She wore plain grey trousers and a shirt, though this was probably because she was working on the ship. Her frame was very slight and only interrupted by the swell of the child inside of her. Her eyes were bright and intelligent. Han guessed that she was, give or take, a decade younger than Ben, the same age difference Han had with his estranged wife. Han felt his chest tighten again at the thought of Leia.

"And where are you from originally?" asked Han.

"Jakku," said Rey, not saying the word with any fondness.

"Really?" said Han. "How did you meet my son there?"

Rey's face flushed and panic filled her eyes. She really should have thought of a respectable answer to this question before now. Nobody had ever asked. Lando had never pursued any further questioning into her past beyond casual discussion of her home planet's desert climate. However, now that Rey reflected on this, she realized that Ben had probably told Lando a condensed version of the truth and asked him not to mention the sensitive subject to Rey or anyone else. Lando had not treated her any differently, but he was a kind man who was also not easily shocked, so it was possible that he had known all along. But now that Ben's father was here asking her, she froze, unable to answer.

The truth was that Rey had lived most of her life as a scrap metal scavenger on the harsh and unrelenting planet of Jakku. However, one summer, extreme sandstorms made it difficult for her to go far enough into the desert to scavenge enough to survive. She did what she had to and occasionally knelt behind Unkar Plutt's shop and propositioned wealthy traders that came through for blow jobs in exchange for credits and rations, or sometimes just a flask of water on a particularly trying day. She was holding out giving away more than just her mouth until she found a particularly wealthy target who was also bearably handsome enough for her to go through with the deed. When Ben Solo walked into town one day, she made her move.

The handsome merchant met eyes with her quickly after she had been staring at him for no longer than a minute. He was tall and well-built. The top three buttons were undone on the tight white shirt underneath his brown vest and encouraged her to stare at his burly chest. Ben had later told her that he felt instantly drawn to her. Rey had felt the same.

Rey had tossed him a wanton wink and walked towards the back of Unkar's shop. Ben had eagerly followed her. When he reached her, Rey silently pulled her garments apart to reveal her bare breasts and guided Ben's hands to fondle them. Ben had blushed and was slightly stunned by the quick turn of events. She waited a moment until his interest was clearly piqued, and she stood on her tip toes to whisper what she had thought at the time was an extravagantly high amount of credits in his ear. Ben told her later on, that the amount she suggested was far too low for what she had been offering him, and a more reasonable exchange would have been at least three times what she had asked, though Ben would have given her six times as much had he actually agreed to be her customer. Rey felt a sick bitterness when she eventually realized how much her previous clients had taken advantage of her lack of knowledge of the value of credits.

Instead of tearing open the rest of her garments like Rey had anticipated, Ben took a step back and gently secured her clothes back over her round breasts. She studied him with confusion. Then Ben held out his hand to her.

"Come with me to my ship," he said.

Rey nodded. Even at the time, she felt ashamed that she would have just let him bend her over right there in the open and have his way with her in which ever manner he preferred. Though there was some cover provided by the building, anyone could have walked by and seen what they were doing. The other scavengers had already known that she was sucking dick for rations. Everyone would have also soon known that her other end was open for business as well. Ben made sure that Rey knew that he did not look down on her for the way they had met. However, Rey still harbored deep feelings of shame at what she would have ended up doing had Ben not been the kind-hearted sort. Luckily for her on that fated day, Ben led her to his ship and that was the first time she saw the Falcon.

When they stepped inside, she excitedly asked him about the make of the ship and how she had scavenged wreckage of a similar model a few months ago. Ben smiled and sat down with her on a couch that was aboard the vessel. He handed her a cool glass of water, the cleanest water she had tasted in years, and asked her how she knew so much about ships. Rey eagerly told him how she liked to fix some of the broken scraps she found and that she practiced flying on a flight simulator, even though she had not really flown many real ships. Ben listened to her with interest, and she eventually realized that a few hours had gone by and they hadn't had sex yet, which is what she assumed was the reason for Ben bringing her into the privacy of his ship.

"Listen, Rey," Ben had finally said. "I am not as interested in finding a bedwarmer as I am looking for a wife to help me run my business. I am looking for an equal partner to share both the work and the profit. I certainly can't run things on my own anymore. My business has been expanding too rapidly. Plus, I must admit that I am horribly lonely."

Rey's mouth widened in surprise.

"You don't have to answer me now," said Ben. "But come along and help me with this ship while you think about it. I won't be mad if you change your mind."

Her heart had pounded in her chest. Fleeting thoughts of the parents who had abandoned her were the sole cause of any hesitation. However, she knew she would not survive on Jakku much longer the way things had been going. It wouldn't be much longer until she either collapsed in the desert during scavenging or slit in the throat by a client who decided he did not feel like wasting credits on a desert whore.

And when she looked in Ben's eyes her whole world felt right. The feeling that spread through her chest from being near him was truly what she had been waiting her whole life to feel.

Rey nodded. "I will."

Ben smiled. He had not realized that she had already agreed to the marriage proposal but was happy enough that she was coming along. When they finally did make love, Jakku was just a flicker in the stars behind the Falcon. Rey had pulled Ben on top of her on the couch, and Ben had kissed her tenderly as he rocked his hips against her body. Rey had wrapped her legs tightly around his waist so he could not pull out when he climaxed. A few weeks later, she realized that she was pregnant with their son, Skye.

Rey usually tried not to dwell too much on her life before she had left Jakku. Before she had her precious son. Before she was surrounded by people who genuinely cared about her. How did she meet Ben? She did not simply meet him. He had saved her life.

"I-I," she stumbled over her words as she tried to answer Han.

Han could glean the general idea from that fact that she was from an impoverished planet and how embarrassed the question had made her. He felt a wave of sympathy for her. 

"Is it okay if I go talk to Ben?" Han changed the subject.

Rey nodded willing the blood that had rushed to her face to flow back to her legs. Han walked through the door that Skye had run through earlier and entered their living space. Rey exhaled heavily and followed after him.

"Ben?" said Han.

"In here," Ben answered.

Ben sat at the kitchen table. A pile of books and scrolls were in front of him. The little boy was sitting in his lap and staring at the books with curiosity. When Skye saw Han walk in, he turned away to cower against his father. Han looked at them affectionately. 

"He looks just like you," said Han.

"Skye is growing up too fast," said Ben with a proud smile.

"So did you," said Han.

Ben gestured for Han to sit down across for him.

"It's about time you showed up," said Ben, barely hiding the veiled disappointment in his voice.

"Nobody knew where you were," said Han.

"I didn't want them to know where I was," said Ben. "But I was surprised you never bothered to ask Lando if he had seen me. You should have known he was the first person I would have gone to."

Han shook his head. "I guess I was too proud to admit that I lost you."

Ben's eyes glimmered with sadness. "You never lost me. I was hoping you'd eventually find me. I was just afraid that Luke would find me before you did."

"I don't understand," said Han. "You should have just went to your mother. Or even told her you were alive at the very least. She said that she couldn't feel you in the Force anymore and that she feared the worst."

"I regret that," said Ben. "But it was my only choice at the time. And it will probably stay that way."

Ben looked down at his son. "It's not only myself that I have to protect anymore."

"So tell me what happened," said Han. "Why did you run away?"

Ben exhaled heavily and looked at Han. Skye was still too shy to look at his grandfather and buried his face against his father's chest. Ben stroked a soothing hand down his back. Rey walked in and looked at the three generations sitting together.

"Shall I leave you alone?" asked Rey.

"Stay," said Ben.

Rey pulled out a chair and sat down as she watched the scene with interest. Ben had explained his past to her before, but Rey was interested how he would describe what happened to his father.

"You don't have to believe me," said Ben. "But I hope you at least take my side into account."

Han nodded.

"Uncle Luke went a bit crazy after Aunt Mara died," said Ben. "It was a gradual process, but I had no choice but to run away from him in the end."

"You originally went to him to figure out how to stop your nightmares," said Han.

"Yeah," said Ben. "Aunt Mara knew for a long time what I could try, but Luke got angry when she tried to tell me. Luke really cared about building up his jedi academy. He had a lot of pride riding on its success. Mara supported him, but she had also grown disillusioned with the jedi."

"Why wouldn't Luke let Mara help you?" asked Han.

"Because her solution involved me cutting myself off from the Force," said Ben. "And at the time, I was Luke's star pupil. He did not want to lose me as a student."

Han's brow furrowed.

"When Mara died, things got worse," said Ben. "I am not sure if I ever saw Luke go to bed after that. He would pace the halls at all hours. He would go on long rants during his lessons. He focused all of his attention on the training program. Fortunately for me, Aunt Mara could finally help me from beyond the grave."

Ben remembered it so clearly as if it had just happened the day before. His distant, yet still caring, aunt had bequeathed only one item to Ben in her will. It was a book of love poems, its pages yellowed with age. Luke knew that Ben would often get distracted writing fanciful tales of love when he was supposed to be copying jedi texts. Luke was then not at all surprised by Mara leaving him such a frivolous thing. He was so unfazed by the book that he had not bothered to flip through the pages before handing it over to his nephew.

Ben had been happy with the gift and opened it to read the poems the same night. He felt scared when his parents had left again after Mara's funeral, especially now that he was stuck with Luke. However, the musty pages of the book felt comforting to him. When he was almost halfway through, he found the letter Mara had concealed inside the book. Ben's hands shook as he lifted the pages filled with her delicate handwriting.

Mara wrote a tale of a young force user whose mind had fallen prey to a sith lord named Darth Sidious. The young jedi's mind was twisted by the dark side. She was coerced and manipulated into committing numerous terrible acts. The voice of Darth Sidious was always in her mind and had lulled her into believing that what she was doing was right and that nobody else besides him had her well-being in mind. This sounded all too familiar to Ben. He too had been plagued by such a voice that haunted his dreams. 

Mara wrote that the jedi's mind was not freed until Darth Sidious was slain by his former apprentice. However, even then, it took her years to unwrap her mind from last remnants of brainwashing.

The rest of the letter mused that it would be much harder to sever the connection of a dark force user preying on the mind of someone since childhood. The safest way was to partially cut oneself off from the Force until a proper shielding technique could be established. However, this could take years to properly plan, and the best way to begin was to temporarily block the Force from one's mind. She had written detailed instructions, as well as suggestions for shielding techniques.

For the first time in his life, Ben felt empowered. The nightmares stopped, and before Luke could figure out that his star pupil had cut himself off from the Force, Ben fled in the middle of the night and had never looked back. He went to Uncle Lando who let Ben stick around for a while to show him the ropes of his numerous businesses. Ben had wandered around on his own after that until he met Rey, and he finally knew what happiness felt like again.

"So you see," said Ben. "I can't go back. I can't risk Snoke finding me. I would probably be able to block him out at this point, but I can't risk drawing any attention to Skye or the new baby."

Ben looked over at Rey's belly.

Han sighed. "I'm sorry. I should have done more to protect you."

"You didn't know what was going on," said Ben. "I'm not angry at you anymore. Just come visit more often, okay?"

Han nodded, too many unsaid words fluttering in his chest.

"Please don't tell Luke or Leia where I am," said Ben. "Mom still trusts her brother too much. She knows he has kind of lost it, but she feels sorry for him."

"I understand," said Han. "I just hope you talk to your mom again one day."

"I hope so too," said Ben.

"And I really need to have a talk with Lando about that ship deed," said Han.

Ben looked at him nervously.

"Don't worry," said Han. "The Falcon's yours. I would have eventually given it to you anyway."

"Really?" said Ben in surprise.

"Yeah," said Han.

"Oh, that's good," said Ben, suddenly unable to tear his eyes away from the cover of the book in front of him.

Rey placed a gentle hand on Ben's shoulder. He looked at her fondly.

"Will you stay for dinner?" asked Rey.

"Yeah," said Han with a smile. "I'll stay."

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you want more of this au! I have always loved smuggler Ben, and I think it is fun to explore the possibility if he had turned to Lando for guidance.


End file.
